HR professionals in the UK believe artificial intelligence (AI) will play a big part in hiring, onboarding, training, and employee retention, according to HR Technologies UK.
According to the research, they agree that bias issues in algorithmic design and model training data must be actively addressed by HR departments.
The average yearly expenditure on HR technologies was found to be £340,257, according to a survey of 1,000 HR professionals in the UK. Of those surveyed, 80 per cent are in favour of incorporating AI into hiring procedures.
Research shows that prejudice is perpetuated by several reasons, thus as AI adoption in HR increases, practitioners need to be on the lookout for ways to reduce it. AI is also anticipated to simplify onboarding, training, performance evaluation, and virtual assistants.
Of those surveyed, 93 per cent acknowledge that technology plays a crucial role in tackling HR issues like staff welfare, hybrid work arrangements, and employee retention.
These themes will be explored by HR Technologies UK, which is co-located with Learning Technologies and provides attendees with access to both events. Over 10,000 attendees, 200 foreign exhibitors, and 200 speakers attended the combined events in 2023.
HR Technologies UK group exhibition director Nicki Morris says: “It is excellent to see that the majority of HR professionals are looking for technology solutions, such as AI, to streamline practices. These findings provide hope for the future of automation, with human oversight, within practices, with the cohesive use of emerging technologies, like AI.
“As with many other areas in organisations, HR teams are struggling for resource in an increasingly competitive business environment, and the evidence from our survey suggests that practitioners will lean heavily on automation and virtual assistance in the coming years. By investing in new technologies, HR practitioners can relieve themselves of certain time-consuming burdens, while maintaining peace of mind in knowing that these tasks are in the hands of technologies that have seen significant recent investment.”
Workday senior director product marketing EMEA HR Technologies UK exhibitor Richard Doherty says: “The findings from this research are very much aligned with what we are seeing from customers. HR professionals are seeking to harness the power of AI to make their departments more effective and efficient. By automating time-consuming and repetitive administrative processes, they can focus on the high-value tasks that only humans can do.”
